Robotics momentum slide continues as Boston Dynamics executive pushes IPO beyond 2027
- A Hyundai official has confirmed Boston Dynamics will not pursue an IPO in 2027.
- The unit remains unprofitable, with losses of 528.4 billion won in 2025 alone.
- Analysts now expect any listing closer to 2029 or 2030.
A senior Hyundai Motor Group official has confirmed that Boston Dynamics will not go public in 2027, per Reuters.
The official stated that the company’s flagship product, Atlas humanoid, still has no large-scale commercial deployment and the unit keeps losing money.
Will Boston Dynamics go public soon?
Hyundai Motor Group (KS: 005380) has confirmed that its robotics business, Boston Dynamics, will not go public in 2027. A filing from Hyundai Glovis, which owns an 11.25% stake in the company, revealed a loss of 528.4 billion won throughout 2025.
The company’s decline from 2021 through 2025 adds up to roughly 1.7 trillion won ($1.4 billion).
Meritz Securities analyst Kim Joon-sung has said that Hyundai needs to build a real track record and sharpen the robots’ capabilities before selling them at scale. He also said he expects the IPO debut in 2029 or 2030, but Hyundai itself has declined to name a date or a target valuation.
Analysts, for instance, Kim Hyun-su, a principal investment manager at IBK Asset Management in Seoul, are skeptical that Hyundai can reach its production target of building annual factory capacity for 30,000 Atlas humanoids a year by 2028.
The company shared this goal during an investor relations session hosted by JPMorgan Chase, where it also said it plans to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas robots across Hyundai Motor and Kia manufacturing facilities.
Notably, Boston Dynamics currently earns most of its money from Spot, its four-legged robot, and Stretch, a box-unloading machine, not from the Atlas humanoid. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to spend at least a million dollars on Boston Dynamics robots to improve “officer safety” for the legged hardware.
How are humanoid listings performing on the market?
Cryptopolitan recently reported that the share price of Chinese maker Unitree Robotics dropped below 500 yuan, wiping out more than 240 billion yuan of paper value from its debut peak.
Following the incident, China’s Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) informally told humanoid firms that they need to show recurring revenue, reduced losses, or actual technological innovation before they attempt to list.
In July, Hyundai Executive Chair Chung Euisun moved to raise his personal stake to 25% with an additional 120 billion won, as part of a plan to buy out SoftBank’s remaining holding and give Hyundai Motor Group full ownership before its debut IPO. That SoftBank buyout is valued at roughly 500 billion won, about $371 million.
Boston Dynamics has been pegged at around 30 trillion won privately, and market observers expect the company to clear 100 trillion won after a NASDAQ listing.
Samsung Securities analysts peg the company’s current value between 50 trillion and 100 trillion won, while IBK Securities sees as much as 141 trillion won by the end of the decade on revenue nearing 11 trillion won.
Hyundai Motor stock is up 25% this year, but it slipped from a high set after the commercial Atlas reveal at CES in Las Vegas in January.
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FAQs
Why is Boston Dynamics delaying its IPO?
A senior Hyundai official said the Atlas humanoid has not reached large-scale commercial deployment and the business is still losing money, recording a 528.4 billion won loss in 2025 and roughly 1.7 trillion won in combined losses from 2021 to 2025.
When do analysts now expect Boston Dynamics to go public?
Industry observers believe a listing is unlikely before 2029 or 2030, well past the 2027 window Hyundai has now ruled out and the roughly 2028 debut markets had earlier anticipated.
How much could Boston Dynamics be worth at IPO?
Estimates vary widely: Samsung Securities analysts put current value between 50 trillion and 100 trillion won, IBK Securities projects up to 141 trillion won by the end of the decade, and The Korea Times reported market forecasts topping 100 trillion won after a Nasdaq listing.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
